Chronicle of Higher Education

Purdue U. picks chancellor of U. of California at Riverside as its next president

May 8, 2007

Purdue University's next president will be France A. Córdova, an astrophysicist who is now chancellor of the University of California at Riverside, Purdue's Board of Trustees announced on Monday after unanimously approving her appointment.

Ms. Córdova, who has been at Riverside since 2002, said at a news conference following the vote that she anticipated an early August arrival at Purdue's main campus, in West Lafayette, Ind. She will succeed Martin C. Jischke, who is retiring after having served as Purdue's president since 2000.
J. Timothy McGinley, chairman of Purdue's board, said Ms. Córdova emerged from an "outstanding" pool of candidates.

"Dr. Córdova stood out as the right person at the right time for Purdue," said Mr. McGinley. Citing one of her previous posts, as chief scientist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, he said that her "résumé is truly out of this world."

Ms. Córdova has won plaudits at the Riverside campus for leading plans to create new medical, law, and public-policy schools, as well as for helping to make the university one of the most socioeconomically diverse in the nation. Ms. Córdova has become a sought-after speaker, and gave the keynote address on science education at the 2006 annual meeting of the American Council on Education (The Chronicle, February 13, 2006).

During the news conference, Ms. Córdova discussed her plans to begin a "transformational" strategic planning process at the university. She also promised that "Purdue will be the energizer for the state's economy."

Mr. McGinley said students and faculty members at Riverside had campaigned to keep Ms. Córdova at the California campus when news leaked out about her candidacy in recent months. He also said that the University of California's Board of Regents had offered her a raise.

"Chancellor Córdova's departure is a real loss for the University of California," said the system's president, Robert C. Dynes, in a written statement. "I worked very hard to encourage her to remain at UCR, but I respect her decision and wish her only the very best."

As chancellor at Riverside, Ms. Córdova's total compensation for 2006-7 is $309,216, according to the Chronicle's annual report on executive compensation, while Mr. Jischke's is $880,950. However, Mr. Jischke's compensation includes a $400,000 retention bonus for which he may qualify at the end of the 2006-7 fiscal year. Purdue officials have argued that the bonus should not be included in his compensation level for this fiscal year.

Ms. Córdova, who is 59, earned a bachelor's degree in English from Stanford University in 1969. She has said that the historic moonwalk of Neil A. Armstrong, a Purdue graduate, that year helped motivate her to study physics. She earned a Ph.D. in physics from the California Institute of Technology a decade later.

Ms. Córdova, who is the oldest of 12 children, and her husband, Chistian J. Foster, a science educator, have two college-age children.

For several years, Ms. Córdova worked at Pennsylvania State University, where she led the department of astronomy and astrophysics from 1989 to 1993. At the news conference, she said that she is "thrilled to be back at a campus with a football team."